making memories through food, wine and travel

If I Was a Betting Woman

Fortunately I’m not, because this is one bet I would have lost. I should know by now not to assume what the kids will or will not eat. It’s not like they haven’t surprised me before, but this time I thought I would surely have been right.

Aerial of Greenland from my best friend Sue’s flight to Europe.

You see this was one meal that kept popping up on our search for Greenlandic recipes, and it’s one I was not terribly thrilled about making. In fact, I think we were all kind of dreading this one. Now you would think that would be enough to find a different recipe, but we were determined to give it a shot. After all you never know, and that’s what this whole experience is about for us – learning new things.

Aerial of Greenland, shot by Sue.

So we finally set to making the recipe for Halibut Cream Casserole. (I think it was the word casserole that had me dreading this meal. While I’ve had plenty of good casseroles over the years, I still associate the word with the many bad ones I’ve eaten.) The kids were also complaining about the meal before we even started as they’re not big fans of stews, but on we went. We started with the halibut, which we were fortunate enough to find this time – and on the first try too!

We diced it up and Miss A took care of squeezing the lemon juice over the top before setting it aside (Yes, that’s a green hair extension for St. Patty’s Day!).

Then we gathered our vegetables which included celeriac, carrots, leek and red onion.

We chopped up the veggies and tossed them in a stock pot with melted butter to cook for three to five minutes.

While the veggies cooked we gathered the rest of the ingredients including fish stock, white wine and two eggs.

We added the stock, wine and diced halibut to the pot and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Next we mixed two egg yolks with some heavy cream and added it to the stew.

We then seasoned it with salt, pepper and nutmeg and let it cook over a low heat for five final minutes.

We served our halibut cream casserole with a sprinkle of bacon, a side salad and a few slices of pizza for the kids; the deal being you try the soup and if you don’t like it you can have your leftover slices of pizza.

Now I will say that the stew actually smelled pretty good, so I did become a bit more optimistic. However after a few bites, I was less than impressed. The halibut tasted good, which is nice to know. I’d probably like this recipe better with halibut for sure. I didn’t really care for the preparation this time around though. In fact, I was done after a few bites. Sadly, this was the rare 1 spooner for me.

Mike wasn’t as turned-off by this meal as I was, he said it wasn’t bad. He ate his whole serving and said he’d probably give it 2 spoons.

Now here’s where I would have lost the bet. Mr. N was the first to try his stew. Mostly I think he wanted to get it over with and get on with his pizza. Much to my surprise, however, he ate his first bite and kept on going! And going. He finished off his entire bowl of halibut casserole and then asked if he could have mine. I’m certain my mouth was gaping open as I turned to watch Miss A, and she too was eating spoon after spoon of the stew. The only thing the kids didn’t really care for was the celeriac, otherwise, everything else was devoured.

I asked the kids how many spoons they wanted to give the dish and Miss A immediately said, “Six.” Mr. N said with the celeriac 3 spoons, without it, definitely 4 spoons. I think I’m still in shock. Not only did they eat all of their soup, they never even asked about their pizza (which is fortunate because I ate them). Who knew. I certainly never would have guessed that my kids would pass up pizza for a fish stew. Never. Like I said, I would have lost this bet big time. Now we do have one more Greenlandic recipe to try before moving on, so I’m hopeful this one will be more up my alley. It’s going to take some experimenting first, so wish us luck and we’ll see you later this week!

Bummer you guys only gave the dish a couple spoons, but it sure looks beautiful! I become more and more impressed with Miss A and Mr. N’s taste buds…when my brothers and I were young we would only eat mac and cheese and chicken tenders. It got to a point where my mom said none of us were allowed to order chicken tenders at a restaurant. Needless to say, we didn’t really know what to do, ha!

I am just amazed–as you said, of course, you were, too! I must admit that although your pictures look wonderful, just the sound of a fish stew doesn’t appeal to me very much, although, judging by the reaction of your household, I would definitely be impressed to give it a try! Debra

Wow, fish stew over pizza! Never would happen in my home! My dad makes an amazing fish stew, I’ll have to get his recipe since he makes it for Fish Friday during Lent. He also makes a fish pizza so my kids choose the pizza over the stew knowing they can pick the fish off! lol
You have some pretty adventerous kids in the kitchen so kudos to you!

I’m with you. In a million years I would not have guessed any kid (or adult) would choose a halibut casserole over pizza! CRAZY! Too bad it wasn’t a success for you and Mike, but at least the kids gobbled it up. Yay for that!

Miss A and Mr. N appear to be the true gourmands in this family. LOL. Thank goodness they left the pizza for you Kristy…I think it is too funny. You just never know what children will do in all things in life. Just when you think you have them figured out they do the opposite.

This will probably not be the last time they shock the heck out of you girl lol. The shocked me, because when I first heard you say the name of the dish I was a bit turned off as well. I never heard of halibut in a casserole.. ever. But you tried it and discovered something about your kids palate 🙂

That’s very impressive, Kristy, and it’s all due to the variety and imaginative foods that you regularly serve. I’m with you on this one, not a huge fan of casserole, particularly fish. Good for you for persevering…

I’ve got to comment the same…soup over pizza? interesting!! But you know other than the celeric, the recipe actually sounds good to me. I’ve had fish in a creamy based sauce; tho I know “casserole” just ruins the vision! I’ve tried to rename recipes whenever I see casserole just so that my guests feel like they are getting something gourmet!!

Fish stew instead of pizza for a child’s choice? That’s… impressive. I guess the flavours must have really appealed to them 😀 Which worked out rather well for you since you were then able to get something to eat yourself too! 😀

It’s too bad you didn’t enjoy it – it’s got all the things I know I like inside so I can’t imagine I’d dislike it terribly. Didn’t you tell me once you’ve never cooked with leek?? Was this your first try or did I miss the big event some time ago?

Also – I find that leek adorable 😀 It’s so cute and stumpy 😀 The ones we get over here have much longer “white” parts – maybe it’s a different variety of leek or something

You know that got me to thinking – they rarely ask for foods again. (Well except cookies or desserts.) I think they enjoy the variety we have around here. Huh. I’m going to have to pay more attention to this.

I have had this happen many times before – you really just never know what they are going to like. I have stopped trying to guess, and I just make things, sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose – it is the great adventure of having kids!! I love it!!

Interesting. The recipe actually sounds nice to me, though I’m on the same page as Mr N and Miss A on the celeriac. I can imagine it being really delish (though potentially less healthy) with some other root vegetable.

I see your previous commenter noticed the Cupcake again – so did I! Love Sauvignon Blanc – one of my favs is called Los Vascos. Anyway, I love your square plates and bowls and your photo is great. I’m not sure I”d love this stew either….lovely piece of Halibut however.

Casseroles…I don’t make ’em. In fact this will be long but I have a funny story about my youngest daughter when she was about 7 or 8 and staying with a friend for the night. As dinner time rolled around the girls were hanging in the kitchen and the mom asked if they were hungry. “yes, what are you making”, asked my daughter. My friend said, “tuna casserole”. Miss T, “I don’t think I like tuna casserole…” Mom, “you like tuna?”…”yes”, “you like noodles and cheese?”, “yes”, “you like potato chips?”, “yes”…the mom, “well you’ll like it then”. Miss T ” I don’t think I like casserole!”. End of story – basically my kids didn’t eat casseroles since I don’t make ’em and she had no idea what strange ingredient that was. We’ve laughed about that for years now.

I went halibut fishing with my boyfriend’s family up in Alaska a couple summers ago. It was SUPER fun and they are CRAZY looking sideways fish. They’re also VERY tasty. I’ll be keeping this recipe in my pocket the next time we see a nice sale on halibut.
Also, question…when you cook with white wine I see you tend to use the Cupcake wine. Is there a specific reason for that? Is that your personal recommendation? Why do you like using that wine best?

Now that sounds like a ton of fun!!! I’d love to go to Alaska someday. Good catch on the Cupcake wine. I have used it in the past few recipes. Mostly I just try and cook with wine that I’d actually drink. Mike and I are far more of red wine drinkers. We really only buy white wines from wineries where we’ve done a tasting and enjoyed it, and I’m not about to use those for cooking. 😉 So we just try and experiment with different whites that we find at the grocery or liquor store. I do tend to lean toward Sauvignon Blancs for cooking though since I know I prefer those to other whites. 🙂

I would have had my doubts about this recipe, too, Kristy. It’s just not my style of cooking with fish. Even so, your Sous Chefs are amazing! They’ll be at home in any restaurant, no matter the cuisine. That’s quite a gift you’ve given them.

Goodness, fish stew over pizza? What’s this world coming to?!! ;-). Okay, you’re freaking me out with your food styling… look at that salad surrounding the stew… the pressure’s on… ;-). But here comes the big question: did Miss A get a haircut? (or did she grow up a few years overnight…something has changed). Love the aerial photo – gorgeous.

Nice catch Kelly! She did get a hair cut. 🙂 Both she and Mr. N did and they’re just killing me with how much older they look all of a sudden. I think Miss A has grown a bit too. I’m going to have to measure her to be sure, but she’s looking a bit taller to me lately. Working on that food styling…it’s an on-going process. 😉

What’s cookin’…

Having returned from our 7-month European sabbatical, we're returning to the kitchens and neighborhoods in our own backyard with a focus on culture, education, history and delicious food. #EatPlayWorld

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